Divine Comedy - Casanova

Turning back to a slightly more straightforward rock/pop format turned out to be
advantageous for Hannon; Casanova turned into a smash hit in the U.K., while the singles
"Something for the Weekend" (at once soaring, cheeky, leering, and truly weird, with
lyrics detailing a guy led astray by his lover and attacked by her secret thug companions)
and "Becoming More Like Alfie" (a sly '60s acoustic pop number with solid percussion,
sampling the Michael Caine movie in question and reflecting on how all the wrong people
in life seem to get the girls) became Top Ten charters. Recruiting the equivalent of a
full orchestra didn't hurt either, fleshing out the classical/art rock/pop Divine Comedy
fusion to even more expansive ranges than before, while drummer Allison and Hannon
continued overseeing and co-producing everything, again demonstrating their careful
collective ear for the proceedings. Hannon's lyrical music fires on all cylinders as
well, from the cockeyed vision of romance in "The Frog Princess" (with more than one
low-key French reference in both lyrics and sweeping music) to the wickedly funny and
elegant "Songs of Love," detailing how boys and girls seem to be in heat everywhere
while all the songwriters are stuck alone writing the title objects in question. In
the meantime, there are great one-off moments scattered throughout Casanova. For instance,
Hannon's impersonation of a modern dandy as fortune teller at the start of "Middle-Class
Heroes" is to die for. He also does one of the best Barry White takeoffs yet recorded in
the mid-song break of "Charge," packed with Tennyson references and army commands amidst
swirling strings and an increasingly loud beat. After topping that off with "Theme From
Casanova," a slightly tongue-in-cheek number detailing all the basic credits and
inspiration for the album, the result is a massive project that hits the jackpot with
smiles all around.